OCTOPUS

octopus, devilfish

(noun) bottom-living cephalopod having a soft oval body with eight long tentacles

octopus

(noun) tentacles of octopus prepared as food

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

octopus (plural octopuses or octopusses or octopi or octopodes or octopii) (see usage notes)

Any of several marine molluscs of the family Octopodidae, having no internal or external protective shell or bone (unlike the nautilus, squid and cuttlefish) and eight arms each covered with suckers.

(uncountable) The flesh of these marine molluscs eaten as food.

An organization that has many powerful branches controlled from the centre.

Usage notes

• The plural octopi is hypercorrect, coming from the mistaken notion that the -us in octopūs is a Latin second declension ending. The word is actually treated as a third declension noun in Latin. The plural octopodes follows the Ancient Greek plural, ὀκτώποδες. The plural octopii is based on an incorrect attempt to pluralise the word based on an incorrect assumption of its origin, and is rare and widely considered to be nonstandard.

• Sources differ on which plurals are acceptable: Fowler's Modern English Usage asserts that “the only acceptable plural in English is octopuses”, while Merriam-Webster and other dictionaries accept octopi as a plural form. The Oxford English Dictionary lists octopuses, octopi, and octopodes (the order reflecting decreasing frequency of use), stating that the last form is rare. The online Oxford dictionary states that the standard plural is octopuses, that octopodes is still occasionally used, and that octopi is incorrect.

• The term octopod (both octopods and octopodes can be found as the plural) is taken from the taxonomic order Octopoda but has no classical equivalent, and is not necessarily synonymous (it can encompass any member of that order). The uncountable use of octopus is usually reserved for octopus flesh consumed for food ("He ate too much octopus last night.").

Synonyms

• polypus

Verb

octopus (third-person singular simple present octopuses or octopusses, present participle octopusing or octopussing, simple past and past participle octopused or octopussed)